BUILDING A SNOWBOARD part 1. Making my custom snowboard. Conrad Craft

HI GUYS! Welcome to the workshop, and welcome to the first video of 2018!!! In this episode, I take some inspiration from SIGNAL SNOWBOARDS and their EVERY THIRD THURSDAY videos and I decide to try to build my own custom snowboard. I want to build this board completely from scratch and have it ready to ride when I go on vacation to Colorado in a couple weeks. This is a pretty tall order considering I have never built a snowboard before and have no clue what i am doing... but honestly... with KZbin videos galore from awesome companies like NEVER SUMMER, KINDRED BOARDS, And SIGNAL SNOWBOARDS... how hard could it be to learn? Come along with me as I go through the process of choosing the wood for my core material, build my own snowboard press, and learn to laminate up the board deck. this project will involve board design, woodworking, form building, metal working, fiberglass, epoxy resin, and plastics... not to mention a good bit of jerry-rigging and improvisation. this is going to be an awesome build and I just cant wait to get this snowboard finished and up on the ski slopes of Colorado. #coloradolife runs deep in my blood and I will be taking my family for their first ski trip up to the Arapaho basin ski resort to enjoy our first ever family winter vacation! (I know I know...what could go wrong... :) )
I am super excited to have you along with me as I learn all I can about how to build a snow board and I hope this inspires some of you D.I.Y people to give it a try for yourselves.
I may be no BURTON, but I am a CRAFT.
Best regards!
CONRAD CRAFT
ps.
Look for video 2 coming up where you will get to see my crazy snowboard carving skills. yeah... I'm totally an Olympic snowboarder.... NOT. I am still very much learning to snowboard... so come join me for the fun of it! peace! OUT!

[@zacbell9383]

When you are making your press, make the first piece absolutely perfect, sanding and rasps work well for this, after that all you have to do is rough cut the remaining, glue /screw one piece on over hanging the first piece, then use a flush trim bit and a router to match the profile perfectly. Look up making a lamination bending jig. This method is used alot in furniture making.

[@ConradCraft]

Zac Bell this would definitely have been a better process👍. Thanks for the quality comment!

[@jeremybeadle4156]

This is incredible! Cant wait for part two!

[@ConradCraft]

Jeremy Beadle Hey thanks Bro!

[@rankmedia5071]

Southern state: Snows a few centimeters Me: makes a snowboard

[@ConradCraft]

The truth hurts. Lol

[@bakersbuilds]

That awesome you can make your own board! Looking forward to the finished product!

[@ConradCraft]

ReclaimedPalletCreations Thanks my friend!

[@bakersbuilds]

Anytime, always support another woodworker!

[@therootsfizzshow1191]

Awesome job! Can’t wait to see the finished product!

[@navisnook]

Thanks so much for this! I really wanna get into snowboarding but a big thing stopping me is $$$ this vid is perfect cause my boyfriend is a handyman and I’m cheap lol

[@stun9771]

Great job, but your right those ends do look a bit thin...can’t wait to see the next video, hope you had a great Christmas and New Year....

[@ConradCraft]

Thanks Stuart. yeah, I thought with laminating the wood core to the 1/8th inch plastic base, plus a layer of fiberglass, plus a top layer of clear plastic would create enough thickness and rigidity in its self that i would need to go super thin.... I was a little mistaken. The board still worked fine, it just was harder to carve a edge on in the snow because is was more flexible.

[@thiagosilva1063]

Very good Conrad

[@ConradCraft]

Thiago Silva Thank you very much! This was definitely a learn as I go process.

[@cameronakers7999]

i am from mn and we have 4 feet of snow best for snowmobiling and snow boarding and skiing

[@nicicole0235]

Next time u could use a Cnc machine to do the camber shape

[@nicicole0235]

Ivh would screw a screw into the inserts before glueing

[@zakaroonetwork777]

You used Counter Top Resin in place of Laminating Resin? Has it held up for many rides or Cracked all to pieces?

[@matamarcelomm]

what snowboarding material supply you ordered the metal Edgar from? great project!

[@UptownFights]

What's the clear top sheet made off? I would like to put my own artwork on a board and seal it somehow. I've used automotive clear and it chipped so easily.

[@lucasfr]

what material did you use for the base?

[@christopherallen8321]

Great video! How did you draw the second arc to account for your edging?

[@matamarcelomm]

what Snow board material supplies company you order the Metal Edge from? online? It looks awesome! ! great project! !

[@ConradCraft]

Marcelo Maton Hey thanks! I ordered my base, sidewall, top coat and steel edge material from snowboardmaterials.com

[@matamarcelomm]

+Conrad Craft thanks a lot!!! you rock!

[@jobveerman3919]

Hi, so you attach the sidewalls first and then you phrase it so the whole core + sidewalls get the right thickness?

[@ssray2000]

what type and size of drill bit did you use for drilling the flanges for the insert?

[@Dan-tp7hh]

Making my snowboard and am VERY confused....HOW did you know where to put the secondary line? did you guess based off the width of your side wall? did you just hold the sidewall up to the primary line and trace? How did you know where the two lines intersected? Sorry for the questions, I have my laminated core and am just very nervous to put the lines down and cut- the wood was expensive lol

[@james7967]

hey, what did you do to get the press profile perfect. im building mine now and sanding it down is a pain. i made some mistakes with the jig aswell so sanding it flat then sanding the profile into it is proving extremely difficult to get it flat and keep my rocker/camber curves

[@ConradCraft]

I did not really get my camber profile perfect either... Down a few comments is a suggestion by one of my viewers for using a router and a long following bit to make things more consistent. Check it out. Good luck!

[@ConradCraft]

One other thing you could do is put thin sheets of soft foam packing material ( it comes in rolls) over the bottom and top boards of the form. This helps fill in and level out inconsistencies in shape during pressing.

[@masonwoodriff8394]

What is the bace material?

[@minivipers]

I have industrial CNC. what you do in your hand both template and section for mold base, i can do it with autocad and cut in CNC...I have also oven for metal coating so i can cook at 80 degrees to bond perfectly......i should do a board...

[@ConradCraft]

I agree!

[@EverthingWithJandA]

Super late to find this video, but where did you find the inserts? Been looking a ton and hardly finding any suppliers

[@dylancolen3179]

I’m making a snowboard in my high school shop class and I’m having problems finding out how wide to make the wood core. The board will be 152 cm in length but finding how wide to make it is difficult to find online. Do you have any ideas?

[@henryrogers73]

We want more chess!! But I will take it :) could u apply similar principles to skis I wonder?

[@ConradCraft]

Hahaha... I know I know. I'm gonna wrap up the editing on the remaining chess videos and get them out to you... I PROMISE! :) yeah this technique is pretty close to the same process as that used on skis... except that most modern skis also add a thin layer of steel sheet metal to the sandwich lamination so that the bindings are screwed directly in without needing inserts. other than that its basically the same game. On a side note, KZbin just sent out a notification that they are changing their creator partnership program on Feb 21st 2018. They will be requiring members to have at least 1000 subscribers on their to remain in the program and I only have 860. help me reach my goal of 1000subs by sharing this video and any other videos of mine with people you think would be interested and I'll keep the content coming! Every little bit helps.Thanks!!! Conrad Craft

[@alperengunn]

What is the underside material?

[@heymannhowru]

Quick question, normal snowboard construction goes........ Base (with metal edge) + Fiberglass (typically 18oz or 20oz) + Core + Fiberglass (typically 18oz or 20oz) + Topsheet. Am I viewing it that you did not do another fiberglass layer on the top? *this is not a "hey you did it wrong post" its that I'm a few weeks away from making my custom board and I'm curious how the clarity of your board came out so clear and if that is achievable under the 20oz fiberglass. I am honestly curious so I know if i can just paint the core and those colors will show amazing or do I need to put it in the press twice and paint the fiberglass once dried then use epoxy to laminate the base and top sheet after(as well as would that even work).

[@th3oryO]

I wouldn't have noticed that until you said it but yeah pretty crazy only doing one layer of fiberglass, I've built three and always put another layer between the core and topsheet. I wonder how that will hold up, and it probably is the reason it was more flexible than he wanted it

[@th3oryO]

Also I figure you've already completed your board but pressing twice (and adding paint) seems like a sketchy idea as you're making a more pronounced shear plane, but did you try it? Would be interesting to know for future builds. I've just used stain on the core or rice paper prints under the topsheet.

[@heymannhowru]

@@th3oryO you underestimate how crazy the past year delayed the project. CNC the top will start hopefully this week. Its going to be 3d relief looking like armor plating. I am going to test how clear my 18oz fiberglass is and clear top sheet is over paint with scrapes and hopefully it will not hide the beautiful paint job I do to the base. So my construction will be poplar gluelam sidetoside core, painted on both sides, 18oz fiberglass for snowboards, clear bottom sheet, and clear top sheet as it stands. But I HAVE to have that paint show through brightly enough. This board has to look bright red to pull off the look.

[@th3oryO]

@@heymannhowru Ah gotcha, well good luck! From my experience with 21 oz fibreglass and clear topsheet material the colour will dull a touch but it isn't that bad. Honestly if you need the top sheet to be bright I would use automotive paint, I've used it before and if you use enough coats it's hard wearing. If it's a wall hanger the clear base will do but I personally detest them for boards I ride, as it is basically impossible to fix them without it looking bad to terrible. Black bases with colourful topsheets is my preference as a result

[@th3oryO]

@@heymannhowru also if you're doing a 3d relief make sure that you don't get voids between the core and the fibreglass, that's probably only possible with a vac bag and it's going to be a pain

[@jobhiojkp]

What is the glue at 4:38?

[@ConradCraft]

Harbingers it's a basic thick cyanoacrylate glue or CA glue for short... Almost any brand will do. Crazy glue is CA glue.. I think that bottle in the video is a LOCTITE brand CA glue... Gorilla glue makes a couple CA based glues... So yeah... That is what that is. Use the thick stuff... There are some thin versions of CA that are made for soaking into soft wood like Balsa wood for rc airplanes... But it wont work well on plastic like the thicker stuff.

[@jobhiojkp]

Thanks! BTW, do you have any suggestions on how to drill the binding insert holes to the tolerances needed for mating with the bindings? It's a whole different ballgame from drilling skateboard holes. Also do I want to make the template for the base 1/16' smaller all the way around from the templates of everything else, to account for the edges sticking out? BTW, I found this jig which you may be interested in: www.slidewright.com/jigarex-universal-ski-binding-mount-jig/. Going to check it out further, though I noticed you used the Burton 3D pattern.

[@ConradCraft]

Harbingers besides using templates or jigs or multi hole drill press drill bit heads, or a CNC..... there really is no secret trick to drilling the binding insert holes. Just be careful and precise... The tolerances are really not high as you might think... You can be a little imperfect and still make it work. Mine were hand drilled and by no means were that well done honestly. Still worked though. Good luck and thanks for the great comments/questions.

[@ConradCraft]

Harbingers also... You could shrink your core profile pattern 1/16th to account for the metal edging if you want... Dont know that you would feel the 1/16th inch difference in riding the board though if you chose not to shink it.

[@williamdoody]

Texans going to breck.

[@kasarahshatzer4673]

I like the 3 stripes